“Inspired By” matched writers and visual artists who each received a piece of visual art or writing. Each then created a new piece of work inspired by what they were given. The outcomes were quite extraordinary, and reading the artists statements it was very clear that even over a long distance, and engaging with someone we have never met, we can influence one another’s creative process in surprising and beautiful ways.

Lesley-Anne Evans was invited to submit two poems, An Artists’ Invocation and Love Song for Morning. In return, she received the visual works Windfall, by Kathy Smith, and Blue Cottage, by Mary Fisher. Lesley-Anne looks forward to meeting the artists who inspired her new poems The Lifespan of Peaches and Original Wisdom, as she was unable to locate them last night in the busy and joyful gathering. She did have the pleasure of meeting the artists who received her poems.

Congratulations to the event organizers, promoters, and especially all the talented creatives who inspired one another to create more beautiful things. The “Inspired By” exhibition continues until September 27, 2018. Visual art pieces are for sale. Poems and stories are free to view. Copies of Lesley-Anne’s poetry is available upon request through this website or by emailing evanslesleyanne@gmail.com.

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In April, 2016, Kelowna Museums Society approached Metro Community and invited them into a collaboration. Lesley-Anne Evans, Metro Creative Curator, and Linda Digby, KMS Executive Director, began to envision how to creatively offer opportunities for story telling in the voices of the Kelowna street community.

Amber Krogel (Metro) joined the collaboration late spring 2017, and brought an exciting new element to bear, that is, the distribution of disposable cameras to project participants. Together with written narratives, these day-in-the-life photographs answer a deeper question, that is, what is important and beautiful to those with real lived experience of homelessness in Kelowna.

Amanda Snyder (Curatorial Manager, KMS) Lesley-Anne, and Amber melded artistic, educational, and relational approaches for the purpose of impacting the public perception of homelessness. Supported by key relationships within the Metro team and other social agencies, each project participant was gently encouraged to complete the task of offering their beauty and truth to the world.

SEE:kelowna is the outcome of the slow work of building trust, listening, coming alongside and facilitating for each individual storyteller. SEE:kelowna has developed into a compelling multi-media artistic expression of photographs, stories, and myth confronting elements that welcome museum visitors into each surprising and insightful story, to:

“this is what I want you to SEE”

“SEE:me”

SEE:kelowna opened at the Okanagan Heritage Museum on August 29, 2017, and is part of the KMS permanent collection. The creative installation includes an interpretive cart and contents, artistic creations, statistics and facts, a favourite photo of each participant offered as a postcard, visitor feedback in response to thought provoking questions, and an accompanying website. The installation continues to morph and change as community members become engaged with the work.

SEE:kelowna participants Rob and Diane offered music, poetry, and personal insights at the opening, a moving experience for those attending.

RED COUCH is a pop-up visual arts gallery celebrating the art of Metro Community artists and friends. Red Couch doesn’t take a commission, instead they support, honour and share Metro Community artists works in hopes they will find a way into the lives and hearts of others.

Lesley-Anne led the ideation and creation of Red Couch, and is excited to be opening the bright little street front space to the public.

For me, Metro Community is a convergence point of spirit and art, made up of people who are hungry to belong, to be heard, and loved, and at the same time are risk takers open to creative expression and the rawness of sharing that process with others. I’ve seen transformation take place, for example, within our writing circles, where the hard truths of personal experience are spoken of and held with such grace and tenderness. The marginalized and vulnerable are capable of deep love and trust, which is a beautiful mystery.

So I believe Red Couch is going to be a surprising place where image dei and the creative spirit of Metro Community is celebrated, and I expect those who come to see the art might just sense something otherworldly is taking place here.

Lesley-Anne Evans, Metro’s Art Curator, and poet/community artist

If you pass by Red Couch on St. Paul Street in Kelowna, you will see a number of brilliant, vibrant portraits newly installed in the space. They were created by the talented artist Liz Ranney, and will be on display through August 15th. Liz designed the Red Couch logo, and along with her husband, artist Dylan Ranney, consulted with Lesley-Anne during gallery planning and implementation. Liz and Dylan are Metro Community family.

You might like to know why a red couch?

The retro, up-cycled couch in the Red Couch was found in the corner of a thrift shop. Like the overlooked, burnt out, vulnerable, and disenfranchised people often welcomed into Metro Community, the red couch is slightly tattered, and is an imperfectly beautiful centrepiece. The red couch has become a symbol of home and radical welcome, the heart of Metro Community and the art gallery.

“Paint The Town Red” is a mini-launch for the gallery which will take place at Red Couch on Thursday, July 6, 2017 from 5-7 pm. Wear something red for a photo op with the red couch. Red Couch is at 1262 St Paul Street, Kelowna.

Kelowna’s Gospel Mission courtyard officially opened for use on September 14, 2016. It was a glorious day for a grand opening, celebrating creative community and this safe gathering space which will graciously welcome our city’s most vulnerable for years to come.

A special congratulations to poets Norm and Nobu, whose meaningful and honest words now grace the walls in brightly coloured steel panels. Lesley-Anne Evans was invited to commission and mentor the poets throughout the creative process from ideation to installation.

Leon Avenue has often been cluttered with the personal belongings of those served by the Gospel Mission – causing complaints about the eyesore. Randy Benson, Executive Director with the Gospel Mission, says there was no place for clients to wait for services outside except the sidewalk, but that has now changed.

“This is a welcoming space; we want people to feel like they’re appreciated,” Randy said. “We have staff here so we want people who are out here to be able to engage with our staff.”

Chris is one of the Gospel Mission’s clients who has been using the courtyard space. He says staff allow him to woodwork in the space, a favourite pastime of his.

“I am very lucky to be here. I like the environment and it keeps my mind off of things. It is a safe place and drug-free zone. I really enjoy it,” said Chris.

The KGM courtyard project was coordinated by the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects – Interior Chapter, with wide community involvement. Well done dreamers and creatives and politicians and donors and accounts people and hard labourers and craftsmen. Well done team, well done!!!

For the past several months Lesley-Anne Evans has been curating the social media campaign Holding Out Hope.

Beginning with a commemorative poetry wall (see CBC article here) immediately prior to the demolition of Metro’s drop-in centre, Metro Community members are invited to share words that humanize and build understanding. Lesley-Anne and others listen, record and share.

Holding Out Hope invites Kelowna’s marginalized and vulnerable ‘others’ to be known, rather than passed by in fear, disinterest, or hurry. Stories are raw, surprising and authentic. Some of our storytellers are homeless, some live in shelters, halfway houses, and the suburbs. All share the poverty of living ‘outside’ an inner circle, a poverty of relationships. All share a hunger to be loved and to belong.

Holding Out Hope is a powerful and risky exchange. Each candid photo puts a face to a name. Each story becomes an opportunity to see the humanity we all share.

Where do we find the courage to let ourselves be challenged and transformed so that we might rise up as messengers or peace and unity? I pray and hope that this…may encourage more and more people to risk crossing the barriers that separate us, and to risk becoming friends with those we have rejected, so that they too might rise up in hope.

Lesley-Anne Evans is pleased to announce that she has accepted the position of Creative Curator for Metro Community, in Kelowna, B.C..

Lesley-Anne was drawn to Metro Community’s Metro Central in 2014, curious about this unique group of people, and wondering if Metro might align with her deepening desire to find God in a more earthy expression of spirituality. She soon became Metro’s poetry facilitator, then Artist-In-Residence, engaging the community in various initiatives such as;

• creating and stewarding a Little Free Library as a gift from Metro to the greater community, a static LFL then became mobile,

• organizing a community member’s first visual art exhibit at a fundraising event,

• encouraging twice-weekly blasts of creative “Pop-UP’s” in the coffee bar, for musicians and wordsmiths,

• hosting open studio for artists,

• installing illumination and poetry in the Wild Goose Cafe,

• facilitating a newly branded Metro Arts social media group where members can connect and inspire one another,

Metro Arts is Lesley-Anne’s passion, fleshing out her belief that we are all created in the image of God, and therefore creative. Her desire is to come alongside others as they discover, engage, contribute and celebrate their creative gifts within community. But Lesley-Anne’s most meaningful role is to be present, and to listen. Through this, Lesley-Anne has begun to experience the rawness of the street community, and the gift of holding space without judgement. Metro Community has at its centre Kelowna’s most vulnerable residents, upholding values that align deeply with Lesley-Anne’s own. Lesley-Anne is honoured to find belonging in such a place and at such a time as this.

a poet and a journal can find converging sense of place, life experience, and poetic sensibilities.

Last autumn, CASCADIA REVIEW intended to publish four of Lesley-Anne Evans poems. Then quite abruptly, a hacker wreaked havoc, and CASCADIA went down. Nothing was published. The website remained frozen. But, thanks to the deliberate behind the scenes elbow grease and expertise of a team of someones, the respected CASCADIA REVIEW is back online, and back in the business of sharing poetry with people.

Today, Cascadia Review published Lesley-Anne’s poem “Vineyard” and tomorrow, another poem, and the day after that, another poem, and the day after that, another poem. We so grateful for the good folk who believe passionately in the good work of publishing journals and collections and books of poetry. Even when things go sideways, they rise again. Thank you, Cascadia Review. THANK YOU.